CDC officials hear complaints about chloramine

(Host) Federal investigators got an earful of complaints today about chloramine, a chemical that’s used to disinfect
water in Chittenden County.

Officials from the Centers for Disease control heard that the
chemical has caused skin irritation and other problems. The officials also plan
to visit residents in their homes and may help the state design a study to look
at the health impacts of chloramine.

VPR’s John Dillon reports.

(Dillon) The meeting at the state Health Department began
with person after person reciting a range of symptoms they blame on the water. Linda
Elkins clutched several bags of pills she says she now takes to deal with her
health issues.

(Elkins) I was stuffed
up real bad. I’d take a shower. Then I’d take a shower, then I’d cough, then
I’d sneeze.

(Dillon) The Colchester resident said
the problems began more than a year ago. That was after the Champlain Water
District added the chloramine disinfectant to a public water system that serves
68-thousand people.

Elaine Greenfield of South Burlington
says she experienced similar health issues.

(Dillon) Greenfield
is a professional musician and teacher. She installed a carbon-based water
filtration system. She says her problems cleared up immediately.

(Greenfield) It was like a miracle. I just felt my old
energy return. And I felt like I was myself.

(Dillon) The federal officials listened impassively and
asked few questions during the testimony. Later this week, the team will visit
people in their homes and try to find out if there’s a common cause of the
problems.

Leslie Hausman is with the CDC’s National
Center for Environmental Health.

(Hausman) We want to
learn what’s going on. That’s why we’re here. We were invited by the Health
Department to learn what’s going on, to listen to everybody.

(Dillon) The state Health Department reached out to the CDC
and the U-S Environmental Protection Agency to help investigate the issue.

Dr. Donald Swartz is
the department’s medical director. He says he doesn’t question people’s symptoms.
But he says isolating the cause is difficult.

(Swartz) The symptoms
that are being described aren’t that unusual in areas like Burlington, where there is no chloramine. That doesn’t
mean that people aren’t sensitive to something in the water. That doesn’t mean
they’re not sensitive to chloramine. It just means that it’s very difficult to
say that they are. And to prove that. Then the problem is what do we d?.
Because chloramine is very valuable to keep the water clean.

(Dillon) Swartz hopes that the CDC can help design a scientifically
based study to look at the health impacts of chloramine.